Chico + Drinking = Duh

Chico State has made headlines again. And again it's because of alcohol. An 17-year-old softball recruit went to a party and had a little too much to drink. She ended up in the hospital and the season ended up canceled. Sucks. But in Chico, it's hard to stay away from alcohol. It's hard to stay away from alcohol on any college campus, but there's something about Chico that makes it stand out among the rest. In 1987, Playboy ranked it the No. 1 party school. That was four years before I arrived. In 1990, the students participated in the annual Pioneer Days celebration, which ended in riots. The following year, my first year at the school, the president canceled Pioneer Days. That sucked. But we still drank. Three-dollar bottles of Boones strawberry hill in friends' living rooms is where it all began. I enjoyed my five years (yes, it took me five to graduate) in the college town that's tucked away in Northern California. Students needed little excuse to party. Lines began forming at bars at 6 a.m. for St. Patrick's Day celebrations. There was a bar (The Bear) behind Taylor Hall (my English building) and I would watch the people having their fun while I sat in class. (I would be drinking later.) And then I'd watch people puke by 11 a.m. Halloween, of course, was off the hook. Friday was always a good excuse to tie one on. And then Playboy ranked Chico the No. 2 party school. There is the downside. While I was there, one or two students on their twenty-first birthdays dies from alcohol poisoning. So there's this 17-year-old and other members of the softball team who weren't old enough to drink. So forget about it. Chico equals alcohol to most. And it's a good school. The attempts of the university's administration to temper the school's reputation have worked. But clearly the parties are still going. Whatever. I loved it.